Harvest Plus-China Program was conceived in March, 2004 after the active communications among Dr. Howdy Bouis, Professor Yunliu Fan, and Professor Xingen Lei.

Dr. Bouis is the Director of Harvest Plus Program, a non-profit organization under International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The program is headquartered in Washington DC and has been found by the World Bank, Gates Foundation, and other donors with more than $50 million dollars during 2003-2007. Because of the expense, difficult in sustaining, and limited success of food fortification, the mission of the program is to use plant breeding (bio-fortification) to reduce and prevent global deficiencies of micronutrients (iron, zinc, and vitamin A) in humans, in particular in developing countries. Professor Fan is a highly respected Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences, and an active leader of plant biotechnology at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing . Professor Xingen Lei is on the Nutrition faculty of Cornell University . As a collaborator of Harvest Plus program in the US and a Chinese native, he has volunteered to coordinate the efforts in establishing HarvestPlus program inside and outside China .

Based on the most recent data released by the Chinese government, there are 550 counties under poverty in China . The prevalence of anemia caused by iron deficiency in children under 5 years old is 22% and in infants aged 6 months in rural areas is 50%. There are also widespread deficiencies in zinc, vitamin A, and micronutrient. According to a survey conducted by the National Statistics Bureau, malnutrition caused by deficiency of micronutrients results in a loss of 30 billion yuan (US$3.61 billion) annually, accounting for 3-4% of the gross domestic product. Harvest Plus Program recognizes the existence and magnitude of these micronutrient deficiencies in China , but considers that China has adequate scientific expertise, social infrastructure, and economic power to solve the problem mainly by itself. The program is willing to help in establishing a sister or parallel program in China so that the two programs will interact in a cooperative way.

A planning meeting was held in Beijing on May 15, 2004 with 11 participants from China and the US . The inauguration symposium was held in Beijing on November 15-16, 2004 at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences . More than 50 participants representing 36 institutes from 9 Provinces/cities in China and 6 foreign institutes attended the meeting. A total of 11 presentations were given to report the mission of Harvest Plus program, the status of micronutrient deficiencies of Chinese population, and the current micronutrient research in China . The participants reached a strong consensus on the necessity and significance of Harvest Plus-China program. An acting program office with 5 members under the leadership of Professor Fan and an international advisory committee with 8 members (5 from China ) were formed at the conference.

To initiate the program in China , HarvestPlus program committed $350,000 for pilot research for the Chinese scientists. The projects were required to be target on improving Fe and vitamin A bioavailability in rice, corn, and wheat, with 1:1 matching support from home institutes. A total of 16 applications from 39 institutes were submitted to the program office on February 1, 2005 for initial evaluation. In April, 2005, 7 projects were selected by the program office and advisory committee for funding. These projects will be conducted by multiple institutes, with very specific target nutrients (Fe or vitamin A) and population. Several project leaders and teams have carried on field investigations and held project organization meetings. All laboratories are currently working with HarvestPlus program scientists on verifying the nutrient analysis in the selected samples.

Hosts for the next three years' annual meetings have been identified. This year will be on September 16-17 in Beijing hosted by China Agricultural University . Zhejiang University and Gangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences will host the meetings in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Within a year, Harvest Plus – China program has marched a long way. The future success and impact of the program will depend on a strong technical support from Harvest Plus program and a long-term and substantial funding from the Chinese government. Fulfilling the goals of Harvest Plus-China program will benefit as many as 300 million Chinese people, and make significant contributions to a harmony China and to the global mission of Harvest Plus program.